This invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatically separating fat from lean meat in a meat carcass.
While the invention is primarily intended for the removal of fat from large meat portions such as whole or half carcasses, it will be appreciated that it can be applied to any size of meat joint and the term "carcass" used herein includes a complete meat carcass or any part thereof such as a cut or joint. The invention is particularly useful for the removal of fat from a back of pork or bacon (treated pork), but it can be applied to any type of meat.
The separation of lean meat from fat in an animal carcass is desirable for the production of meat joints which include the minimum amount of fatty tissue. Due mainly to the difficulty of determining the fat/lean interface within a meat carcass, this operation has hitherto been carried out by skilled operators by hand or on manually operated machines. The present invention provides a means of automatically separating fat from lean meat in a meat carcass.